EXAMPLES contains some C and FORTRAN programs useful both in testing and (hopefully) learning how to use the VOGLE graphics library.
#@(#) Overview of the history of the sticky program ================================================================================ An internet code says: Sticky(1) produces CODE 39 barcodes. Each character consists of 9 bars, 5 black and 4 white (the gaps are considered bars). 3 of the 9 are thick bars (thus code 39), and 6 are thin. There is a thin gap between each character. Every bar code typically starts and ends with an asterisk, which is generally accepted as the delimiter character. The ratio of thick to thin is supposed to be in the range 2:1 to 3:1. There are several other different barcode standards, but these days MOST barcode readers will read all the MAJOR ones. ================================================================================ My code says: a character is 13 single-wide stripes wide. The last stripe is always a gap. The others are broken into 3 double-wide and 6 single-wide stripes. I got that from an 'official' book on barcodes picked up at a printer symposium by someone I worked with but I gave the book back to him so now I can't resolve the conflict, but these stickers were read by STK silos for years. ================================================================================ In sticky the delimiter is a $ character instead of * and the last three characters are printed first. Ask STK why. I never did so I don't know why they're like that. Although a value of 2.5:0 is probably ideal I used 2.0:1 in sticky, as it better matched the appearance of the sample stickers. ================================================================================ Sticky(1) is a program that makes special stickers for STK silo tapes. It started out as a one-day project because several friends in the Help Desk and Operations groups at Westinghouse were complaining about the time it took to get these stickers (up to eight weeks). There was also quite a bit of money involved (over $1 per sticker). The code worked and a cleaner version was produced but those files are not available to me. By printing them ourselves we saved a considerable sum of money. We were also able to print labels immediately instead of waiting for weeks for specific labels to be made. This was particularly useful for replacement stickers for damaged labels. We initially needed at least 50K stickers just to start with. We paid $900 dollars to have someone make a die that would precut a sheet of sticker stock so that 50 stickers were on a sheet. The sheets cost $0.15 but could hold $50 of stickers if we ordered just the sequential stickers. Special orders of stickers with specific names on them cost more. So a FORTRAN program was made using the graphics library TEMPLATE on a Cray UNICOS machine. Then it was ported to use VOGLE on an HP, and then on a SunOS machine. Later the customer lost the code and asked for it to be recreated for PSC (Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center). Since the original was gone the program was recreated in C (still using VOGLE) to run on an IBM AIX box which did not have an F77 license. I don't have a copy of the C program anymore but found an old script for one that I've placed here as a VOGLE example. There was an option to just print solid letters with no bar code and an option to print the barcode double-wide (this meant you only got 25 stickers per sheet but made alignment easier. We generally had to make small adjustments each time we used a new printer. The XEROX 4700 worked very well for a long time but each new set of stock usually needed tested when we were getting 50 to a sheet.) There were a number of code39 files that set up different colors that matched different project requirements. The one here was just a sample for the operators.
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